April 8th 2013And so we lost Margaret Thatcher today and I am not going to make any comments about her, save to that two theatres in London were suddenly, well maybe not that suddenly, presented with an awkward dilemma. The play, The Audience, presents the Queen meeting Thatcher and Thatcher doesn't come out if it too well. She fares less well in the musical of Billy Elliot where Act two opens with a huge number set in a miners social club where , having little else to celebrate, they celebrate the day being one day near Thatcher's death. In the number a huge effigy of Thatcher is brought on and mocked. 'The Audience' was introduced with a short speech from the author, but I gather at Billy Elliot the puppet wore a black arm band. Probably the best solution for an audience, though I suspect most of the audience are tourists now, that could tip over the edge of being a witch hunt. But good to see a puppet being a diplomatic solution. The distancing device of a puppet came to the rescue.